Alien: Covenant Set To Return to Horror Roots

The first Alien movie was released in 1979, and according to movie news site Cinema Blend we are about get the next installment of the franchise. Footage of Alien: Covenant has been screened at a special preview event in New York. Guests at the event were shown fifteen minutes of exclusive footage and the new trailer which is due to be released in the next few weeks. Cinema Blend went onto document how the overall reaction to the footage was positive with one Twitter user saying, “This is a full blown, bloody HORROR film, in line with the original.”

This will please fans of the Alien franchise as the previous 2012 film Prometheus split fans and critics after it moved away from the traditional creature horror genre and moved towards a more mythological approach. Comicbook.com states that Alien: Covenant will be a sequel and prequel bridging the gap between Prometheus and the original 1979 Alien film. An official photo from the film shows director Ridley Scott in front of the iconic Space Jockey. The Space Jockey was an important plot point in Prometheus and Alien, and will most likely be the narrative link between the three films.

The Irish Times reports that Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace will both reprise their roles from Prometheus. Fassbender told the paper that he was playing two robots in the new film: Walter a new robot, and the android David from Prometheus. Referring to the tone of the film Fassbender said, “I think what’s great about it is that Ridley has gone back to the original DNA of Alien – to the horror element of that.”

Michael Fassbender will reprise his role as the synthetic David

Making a welcome return to franchise is the original alien creature whose absence from Prometheus was one of the reasons that fans took a dislike to the film. This time the Alien will play a major part and was the only character from the film to feature on the teaser poster with the word ‘run’.

Teaser Poster

The Alien film series is one of Hollywood’s longest running franchises. Since the original was released in 1979 with the tagline ‘in space nobody can hear you scream’ the film has spawned three direct sequels, two prequels (including Alien Covenant), two crossover films with the Predator franchise, and countless novels, comics, and games.

The latest video game was Alien Isolation which was released in 2014. In his review of the game for Polygon, Arthur Gies writes that the game forgoes the usual shoot-em-up style and is a survival horror game where the player has to use their wits to avoid contact with the Alien. Like Alien Covenant, Alien Isolation took its inspiration from the popular 1979 Alien film. Such is the popularity of the Alien franchise that it has been used by many different entertainment platforms. Digital gaming site Spin Genie took inspiration from the second Alien film for their slot game Aliens. Players must progress through the slot game to get to the final faceoff with the Queen in a narrative similar to the Aliens film. The first two Alien films are seen as the highlights of the franchise so it is no surprise that gaming platforms take inspiration from them.

Alien: Covenant is due out next year on 19th May, 2017 and stars Michael Fassbender, Noomi Repace, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup and Danny McBride.